Blk96Frmla

iTrader: (1)

So I'm driving home from work yesterday, I get about a mile from my apartment stuck at a red light and my car just flashes a check gages light and dies. I pulled over, checked the battery connections, started it back up and when I go to pull back out onto the road it dies again and each time I try to crank it it gets weaker and weaker. At this point I was thinking maybe it was an alternator/battery issue???

So my gf comes and charges me up with some jumper cables for a few minutes and the car starts right up and runs fine. I got it home and noticed that while idling the oil pressure drops to ZERO and that's when the check gages light comes back on. I checked the oil and it had plenty in it and it wasn't discolored or watery looking.

What could it possibly that's causing it to lose that much oil pressure while idling. It seems kind of low when driving too, just under 40 pounds. Could it be the oil pump? Possibly a clogged line?

If anyone knows your help would be greatly appreciated.
My car is a 96 Trans Am, bone stock with 140k miles btw.

Fotis

iTrader: (2)

if it flashed it means its a coil pack thats gone wring its no biggie they are any were from $25 to $120and installation is just two screws any one at any auto parts store can hook up the diagnostic machine to it for free and tell you exactly which one has gone bad.... it is thank God it was a 96 cause anything older and you'd have to pay a mechanic

but if its doing it due to low oil pressure well then i got nothing for ya, maybe its a clogged filter, never use fram THEY SUCK!!!

MTBSully

iTrader: (7)

96 is an LT1, which means it doesnt have coil packs. It has a distributor and a coil.

On another note, 40psi of oil pressure when your driving is normal, especially if the car is warmed up.

I would get a mechanical guage on the car to see if the oil pressure actually is zero when your driving.

ss.slp.ls1

iTrader: (36)

What?

To the OP. Did the ses light come on, or did it actally flash once per second? A flashing SES light means a misfire. Could be anything in your ignition system causing it. You need to get the car scanned to tell you exactly what code is being thrown.

Don't run it with zero oil pressure, your engine will be toast. Sometimes the oil pressure sensor can go bad, that's what your gauge inside the car reads. You might want to get a mechanical gauge and see if your oil pressure really is zero.

Ironxcross

iTrader: (8)

HALP =/= help


There should be a spelling and grammar quiz when you create your account. This is getting out of hand.

Blk96Frmla

iTrader: (1)

The SES light never came on. The check gages light came on and stayed on until I killed it. Started it back up and it does the same thing, drops pressure and the same light comes on and the car dies again. I'm going to change the oil and filter today when I get home to see if that helps at all. If not I guess I will get some diagnostics ran on it and see if I can get the problem pinpointed. Sucks because this car is my only means of transportation.

Blk96Frmla

iTrader: (1)

Ok Mr. High and Mighty. If you haven't noticed my grammar is excellent. I'm quite sure it's probably better than yours, actually. I know how to spell help for Christ's sake. "HALP" was not at all meant to be taken seriously. If you would like to try and find any other mispelled words in my posts go for it. I take pride in having better grammar than 90% of the people who post on forums.

I will gladly take you up on your offer of taking a spelling and grammar test and ace it if that would make you feel better.

ss.slp.ls1

iTrader: (36)

Are you sure that your idle isn't dropping at the same time, causing it to die? The min spec for oil pressure at idle is 7 psi, lol, that's low. If something is causing your car's idle to drop, the oil pressure will go with it. Just something to think about. I hope you get it figured out. As I said, don't drive it around until you can verify mechanically if your oil pressure is actually at zero.

Blk96Frmla

iTrader: (1)

It seems as though the oil pressure goes down first, then the idle gets killed, not vice versa. It's just hard to determine whether it's an ignition or an oil problem. Thanks to all who have provided helpful input. I will update later after I get home and get a chance to look into things a little further.

dante1313

This thread is now about spelling and grammar.

impaled

the only way to know the oil pressure for sure is to hook up a mechanical oil pressure gauge. the electric sending unit could have gotten messed up, some wires could be messed up, etc.

a mechanical gauge is the only way to know for sure.

Blk96Frmla

iTrader: (1)

I'm hoping for a simple problem such as this. Anybody know any good F-body mechanics around the DFW area? I would like to have the car thoroughly looked over for other problems while tackling this one.

Blk96Frmla

iTrader: (1)

So I looked a little further into the problem yesterday when I got home. The car was running fine for a while, then when it warmed up it started to lose oil pressure again. It only drops really low when idling in gear. If it is in park at idle the pressure sits at about 7lbs. When driving it stays around 25-30 which seems a little low but not terribly bad.

Bottom line is: The car loses all oil pressure when in park and idling. Bad oil pump? Bad sending unit? Help please! Need to get this thing fixed, it's my daily.

ss.slp.ls1

iTrader: (36)

It's hard to believe but 7psi is acceptable at hot idle. The rulle of thumb is to have atlest 10psi for every 1000rpm.

Blk96Frmla

iTrader: (1)

I know that 7psi is ok at hot idle. It's fine when it's idling in park, but as soon as i drop it into drive it drops to zero.

impaled

"I" being me, would get down there with a manual oil pressure gauge and take the readings at idle and at higher RPM.

i wouldnt trust the sending unit.

you would notice other issues if you had no oil pressure, and with no oil pressure i dont think your bearings would survive that long.

the sending unit is probably bad and causing the car to act up due to the false info it is sending from the pcm (although i cannot recall on the lt1's wether or not there were one or two oil pressure sending units (i for PCM i for gauges).

as much of a pain it is i would definitely compression check the car (regardless of the oil pressure issue), just to make sure everything is mechanically sound, i.e. no blown headgasket, sticking valve issues.

ElkySS

iTrader: (6)

its probably just the sending unit. just replace it and go from there.i believe theres only one but i think they moved it around from year to year. its either above the filter or near the back of the intake.

ss.slp.ls1

iTrader: (36)

I'm pretty sure that all LT1 oil pressure sensors are located at the back of the block near the drivers side.

chrisLT1

i will give you $500 for it J/K just get a sendig unit and we will do that first might be there around 1 or so

Blk96Frmla

iTrader: (1)

Alright homie sounds good. Thanks to all who have provided helpful input. I will update after chrisLT1 and I get the sending unit replaced.